NORTH HAMPTON — Great Bay Motorcycles President Don Jeka is an admitted motorhead.

“I love internal combustion engines, performance, power,” Jeka said while working in his Route 1 shop.

But another part of him, the dad part, is also environmentally conscious.

“I know things have to move beyond fossil fuels,” he said.

About six years ago, he started looking at electric scooters and motorcycles, but said they did not get very far on a battery charge, and they did not go very fast.

Jeka is choosy about what he sells. The four-year-old shop currently showcases and sells almost exclusively Ducati, Triumph and Vespa.

Until recently, nothing in the electric market caught his attention. But then he learned about Zero Motorcycles, a California company building 100 percent electric motorcycles with a range of up to 100 miles and the ability to reach top speeds of 88 miles per hour.

“Zero is the one brand that kept surfacing as the most viable,” Jeka said. “And it's out of Santa Cruz. It's a U.S. product, which is superb.”

Jeka dons full gear to take one of the 2012 models out for a demo ride, something any qualified rider is welcome to do at Great Bay Motorcycles.

As he pulls out onto Route 1 in front of the shop, the motorcycle hardly makes a sound.

“It's nearly dead-silent,” Jeka said.

But it is not slow to take off, and in no time, Jeka is whizzing down the roadway.

Jeka first learned about Zero Motorcycles in January at the International Motorcycle Show in New York City.

A new Zero employee at their booth was someone Jeka has known, and trusted, for a long time.

“He said, 'I wouldn't be here if it wasn't good technology',” Jeka said.

Zero asked Jeka and his staff to check a couple of the motorcycles out, and they did.

Jeka said he was most surprised by the acceleration and the torque of the bikes.

“Because you just didn't expect it,” he said.

The bike also handles well and is “ridiculously” light, with a frame made of super light aircraft aluminum.

The lightest motorcycles in the shop previously weigh about 300 pounds, and the Zero weighs about 100 pounds less, he said.

And of course, the problems associated with maintaining a gas engine do not exist, nor does the cost of regular fill-ups.

“You can go 20,000 miles on $200, that is how efficient they are,” Jeka said.

However, the motorcycles are not inexpensive.

“To get into the game,” it costs about $7,700 MSRP, Jeka said, but the ones that are really “street-worthy” and can go some distance range in cost between $11,500 and $14,000.

He said they did not have high aspirations for sales for the year, but the electric motorcycles have been selling pretty well since being introduced to the store in April.

Currently, Great Bay Motorcycles is the only dealership north of New York City to carry Zero's 2012 product line.

“Great Bay Motorcycles is a well-respected motorcycle dealer in New Hampshire and we are looking forward to building a longstanding relationship with them.” said John Lloyd, vice president of global sales at Zero Motorcycles.

Jeka said a Zero page is under development at www.greatbaymotorcycles.com.

- - - - - - - -

Gretyl Macalaster may be reached at gmacalaster@newstote.com.